He said, She said…

The article linked to the right concerns a study done on African-American males and females – an interesting read. The study cited delves into some deeper points and some particulars beyond the terms I’m thinking in. However, I liked the image and figured it was interesting enough to point out.

I’d like to focus more on the male/female differences that seem to crop up and become problematic in our relationships with members of the opposite sex. I’ve been thinking a lot about how these differences might manifest and be shown through dialogue. It’s certainly an opportunity to create some friction between those poor unsuspecting characters too!

I’ve been reading Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray, not because DH and I have been having issues communicating, but more to gain some insights on how people with those types of issues act and talk. I like to think DH isn’t your stereotypical male, so basing romance heroes on how he would react or even speak seems counterintuitive (No offense, sweetie!). I can only imagine what he thought the first time he saw me reading that book.

Anyway, despite the hokey Martian/Venusian metaphor, Gray’s descriptions of how men and women react and communicate differently make sense. I’ve already gotten a couple of ideas on how to better portray a couple characters from it. The idea of men retreating to their cave is so prevalent in the Regency-set historical romance novels I read. How many times has the hero retreated to his study?

Like in Vogler‘s Writer’s Journey, I’m coming up against ideas that I’ve intuitively known. Once again I’m being forced to re-examine and re-evaluate how I view the world and how I can turn that to an advantage in my writing.

Handling Tension

Crusher — CRUSHER by Peter Zoon on Flickr, (CC BY)

Once you start to study something, it’s amazing how you see the connections and draw insights everywhere. This morning while I was surfing, looking for an image, with no real topic in mind for this post, I found some awesome pictures of springs. I dug around a little deeper in the Flickr pools and found this one.

By this point, I’d already decided to use a spring and talk about some aspect of tension as it relates to conflict in writing when I stopped and read the page where the image was located. What caught my eye was the following sentence: Progressive springs are designed to become stiffer as they are compressed in the spring perch under increased loading. Combined with the idea that “your car reacts more quickly and precisely to steering inputs” and projected onto a couple of characters thrust into a conflict, the car analogy results in an intriguing insight for me.

The more backbone (not just in the figurative sense, but also backstory and goals and motivation) your characters have, the better you’ll be able to anticipate and accurately depict their reactions and the more likely they will come through their conflicts better off than at the beginning of your story.

Are you like me? Are you trying to write before you really know your characters and finding that they fall flat? Maybe you need to hang out with them a bit longer and see which shock absorbers they need to deal with what you want to throw at them. On the other hand, they could also be over-equipped to handle the path you’ve set them on — one that is more reminiscent of the open highway than a mountain road with hidden hairpin turns and switchbacks.

Food Porn or Romance?

Food Pron I’m an avid reader of Slashfood and am highly amused by their food porn category. DH and I are suckers for any Gordon Ramsay show on tv (Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen or The F-Word). I used to watch a lot of the Food Network back when they were promoting how to cook food instead of just trendy lifestyles. I also skim a variety of other food blogs out there. Bloglines is amazing at pulling everything together in one list for you.

I know my way around the home kitchen, but that’s part of the thrill of watching Ramsey preside over his own little corner of hell. I know I could never hack it there. The pressure is too much for me. Just looking at a well-plated meal can be like looking at a piece of art.

I think that’s why the story idea for the conflict between a food blogger/critic and a chef/restauranteur piqued my interest. The trick will be making it FEEL like you’re looking at Slashfood’s variety of food porn. It’s all in the details.

Before I had to go off an do boring household chores like grocery shopping, I managed to get about 750 words down at the beginning of the story. Before bed last night, I managed to further outline what I wanted to try to accomplish with the story. Unfortunately, I have a lot of non-writing tasks I must finish today before I can go back to playing with food.

Have you ever written about characters with whom you share a hobby or interest? What was the one you’d most like to attempt but have never gotten around to trying?

Building Tension

On the Romance Divas‘ forum, one of the gals, Jasmine Rowe, has been sharing some of what she calls on her blog, Jasmine’s Grotto, “Opinions, Advice and Writing Wisdom Pearls”. I love her post on Conflict, How To Get Some – The Gap. Definitely a pearl of wisdom.

The idea is to take expectations and how we readjust when there’s a gap between them and the reality that so often intrudes. I thought it might be a useful exercise to come up with some of the expectations and intruding conflicts that some of the couple’s on the list from yesterday might have. None of these are polished. They done pretty rough this morning.

The Food Critic and the Chef
Initial Goal: The critic wants to review a restaurant and have a nice meal.

She goes to the place where she made reservations (gap) her name’s not on the list
She can wait for a table (gap readjust) The wait will be 2 hours, fully booked tonight
She has to find a new place to eat (gap readjust) All her usual haunts are full too
She finally finds a small hole-in-the-wall joint (no gap) She’s seated immediately
Menu looks great; she settles in to enjoy her meal (gap readjust) Food gets spilled on her
She’ll just send the bill for the cleaners (gap readjust) She’s taken to the back to clean up and meets the handsome chef
She expects to stay professional (gap readjust) He charms her out of writing a bad review
She expects to never hear from him again (gap readjust) He calls her up for a date

The Car-jacking Victim and the Undercover Agent

Initial Goal: Theheroine wants to get some cash from the ATM.

She goes to ATM to get cash (gap) a guy pulls a gun on her and orders her to slide over
She tries to call 911 on her cell (gap readjust) No signal.
She tries to signal people on the highway (gap readjust) They ignore her and he exits onto a secluded road
She asks for a bathroom break, thinking of escape (gap readjust) He walks with her
She tries to run anyway (gap readjust) he tackles her and holds the gun to her head
She believes he’s going to kill her (gap) he kisses her

Something to start with in each case. Feel free to offer any suggestions for these or any others from the list or make up your own in the comments section!

Brainstorm: Conflict

I’ve been looking for ways to add small brainstorming sessions into my day as I wait. With two kids, I do a lot of waiting. Yesterday, I managed to do my journal entry while I was waiting for DH’s car to be lubed.

Yesterday, while waiting to get the kids from school, I sat at the flagpole with my notebook in hand. I had about 25 minutes before the bell rang, so I decided to come up with a list of couples that I could refer to and pick a pair to explore at random.

I wasn’t looking for a list of just any old couples, but ones that would likely experience some naturally occurring conflicts. I haven’t decided if I’m going to use any of them or not.

Admittedly, many of them are more contemporary in nature than historical. I’d like to come up with some that are more specific to a Regency setting, but it wasn’t a requirement when I started the list.

Executive Chef	Food Critic	Girl Scout Leader	Boy Scout Leader
Single Parent	Teacher/Principal	Developer	Farmer
Thief	Collector	Single Parent	Doctor/Nurse
Crime Victim	Cop/Detective	Crime Witness	Cop/Detective
Banker	Homeowner	Executive	Driver
Spy	Counter Spy	Dog Lover	Cat Lover
Military Brat	Soldier	Rebel	Pacifist
Wrongly Accused	Lawyer	Environmentalist	Fisherman, Logger, Developer
Report	Undercover Detective	Bloodbank Worker	Vampire
Social Worker	Single Dad	Developer/Architecht	Historial Preservation Society
Band Director	Football Coach	Animal Rights Activist	Butcher/Rancher
Pagan	Christian	Hostage	Hostage Taker/ Negotiator
Victim of Car Jacking	Bank Robber/ Undercover Cop	Union Leader/Worker	Factory Boss
Stowaway	Captain	Photographer	Isolated hermit
Beach House Owner	Coast Guard

Some make more sense on their own than others, feel free to use any as a jumping off point. If you don’t get my thinking, I’ll be happy to explain. Also, if you have any ideas for a great conflict that you don’t mind sharing with the world? Feel free to add them in a comment!